Travels with Heart: By Annie Bowler, Vol 16' August 1, 2024
Though we didn’t travel far this July, it was a full month. Jocean and his family were visiting from Indonesia, and many other family members were here much of the month, and a new puppy arrived. You could say it was organized chaos.
There were lots of excellent, home-cooked meals thanks to Ayu and the other fine cooks in our family, (I am always on the clean-up crew), wonderful times catching up with each family member, the garden and fruit trees were harvested and much family fun. But this year’s tremendous heat made it hard to do much outside unless you got up early, which wasn’t our forte with so many evening shenanigans. I loved every minute of it!
We are fortunate to have a cabin at Donner Summit, so we escaped there during the worst of the hot streak. It’s always 20 degrees cooler up there, but when it’s 112 at home, it’s still 90 at Donner Summit, and believe me, 90 degrees is hot at that elevation! Let’s just say, we spent a good amount of time out on the water! Oh, and we were entertained by Sarah’s new pup, Chief.
There are many avid football fans in our family. (We call it soccer here in America but to the rest of the world, it’s football!) With both Copa America and the Euro Cup going on, there seemed always to be a football match that needed to be watched which was great entertainment during the hottest of days. It’s hard not to be swept up by this great sport! Though many of us were rooting for Columbia, we congratulate Argentina and Spain for their wins!
We had a full house watching Columbia make the finals of Copa America
I am so very grateful to all Cal Fire staff for their incredible work on the Royal Fire. They saved a pristine, rugged piece of wilderness in the Tahoe National Forest that’s not only the headwaters of the north fork of the American River but also near the trail of both the Tevis and Western States races.
Our cabin is up a long, steep hill from the fire’s origins and many in the Serene Lakes
community were rightly anxious when it began thus our entire community is grateful to
Cal Fire for their efforts!
My heart goes out to the people and animals who live anywhere near the Park Fire, which is currently raging near Lassen National Park. By the look of it, this will be a long, hot summer. Keep up the good work #Calfire and thanks again for keeping the Royal Fire small!
I love paddleboarding, but we’ve had crummy paddleboards for many years and
recently they’ve become waterlogged and barely stay above water. After using my
nephew’s brand new, inflatable paddleboard and almost sinking on ours, I decided to
splurge on a new one. It felt like Christmas in July. Boy what fun I’ll have!
Each July 20th, we celebrate our first-born’s birth; John Edward Bowler lll, better
known as Jocean, lives in Indonesia so often we aren’t together on his birthday, but
near or far, we always connect. I am truly grateful for this passionate, loving human;
he brings so much fun and light to our lives and has literally broadened our world.
Just like all moms, I hope this next year brings him many meaningful connections and
lots of happy days!
John taught art at Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp this July; it’s a camp we’ve both been involved with since the mid 1980’s. Though it’s an exhausting week, with late nights and way too much fun, it’s one of the highlights of our year.
It’s wonderful to spend time with a group of people who are creating some form of art, be it drama, video production, music, drawing; the list goes on and on. But what makes Sugarloaf Fine Arts Camp so very special, is its friendly, supportive culture, which encourages both campers and staff to be brave, to try new things, because they know everyone at camp will celebrate their efforts, no matter how things turn out. The kindness shown at camp is inspiring. I wish all of life was like Sugarloaf!
On the final night of camp, art, photography, and textile art students walk through the assembly to show something they’ve created. Their work was truly impressive. I hope you enjoy these samples.
I enjoyed getting to know Rosanne Cash when we were both freshman at Bonaventure High School. She was far more worldly than the rest of us; she was a firecracker back then and still is to this day. Timely song, don’t you think?
We had a special evening with our oldest granddaughter, Nazla, right before she moved to
Pittsburgh. We will miss her so much but are excited for her future!
She graduated from UC Davis recently and has a job offer in LA but since she isn’t a U.S. citizen, Naz needs to have a work visa before she can begin working. International students who’ve graduated from any UC are guaranteed a one-year work visa upon graduation, but the trouble is, US immigration takes forever to approve these visas.
What a foolish brain-drain this is! Many of these bright young college grads end up going home because of the long wait for their Visa.
Luckily, in Naz’ case, she and her boyfriend Patrick, who just finished a master’s program and now has a good job that allows him to work anywhere, are heading to his parent’s home in Pittsburg. They’ll stay there until her Visa is approved and she is certain of where she’ll be working. These are exciting but hectic times for these young adults!
Wishing you a happy and healthy rest of the summer. Stay cool!
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